MICHEALS’ MEMOIRS March 2020 Education Recruitment Update Learn More: www.cbmicheals.ning.com https://issuu.com/wycliffe-cbmicheals
One of the things Chuck has been working on since taking over supervision of the education recruitment work is building his team. When he started this effort in late summer last year he had no staff. Now he has a staff of six and he hopes to build that to a team of nine this coming year.
Dear Friends and Family, There are always lessons to be learned in life and that is the case with the new education recruitment work Chuck has been involved in. In our last newsletter we noted that we were going to three Association of Christian Schools International recruitment events at Baylor, Grand Canyon and Liberty Universities. We were excited to see 80 college students studying education who expressed interest in our work. However, after repeated attempts to contact all 80 people and getting initial replies, none of the 80 have moved ahead with us.
Recruitment staff at Liberty University event
That brought us to a point of examining what was the cause of this lack of follow-up by these students. We discovered that while we followed up with recruits, they were also put on a Wycliffe mailing list that informed students of many other things they could do with Wycliffe. Since successful recruitment is speaking with one voice and encouraging recruits to move in one direction, not many, we have now made sure that these students only hear from the Education recruiter.
Would you please pray with us that future education recruitment events will produce a better harvest of workers?
The Education Recruitment team (minus our daughter Jenny Struyk who is serving part time and helping Chuck’s team with administrative work)
Earlier this month, both Chuck and Barb attended a recruitment week long meeting in Florida to discuss how all our various teams can work together to improve recruitment. This was the first time Chuck’s staff all met each other in person. Before that, all meetings were done by online conferencing. One of the breakout meetings we held was with Chuck’s education recruitment team meeting with the team Barb is on (the Volunteer and Internship Placement – VIP staffing team). Since a number of teachers are going out this year under this application process, out teams met to discuss how we could work together successfully.
Education Recruitment and VIP teams meet
That breakout meeting showed that there are challenges to sending out teachers using the VIP process. It is a viable option for educators to use, but we are praying that a system can be developed that will work in all ways the best for educators. One of the challenges in recruiting educators is that many educators don’t fully consider what to do for the following school year until it comes to the time of signing contracts. That is usually in March of each year and while that works for the VIP application process, it doesn’t work at all for educators wanting to serve as full members. For them to do the necessary steps of application in that system they need to start applying in late December of the previous year. Thus, discussions are underway to find ways to streamline the process for educators. One of the things Wycliffe missionaries are known for is being well trained. That is as true for educators as it is for our Bible translators. However, educators need special orientation as they will be teaching in a very diverse and very multi-cultural school environment. The main way Wycliffe provides this orientation is with a week long course called GECO (Global Education and Care Orientation). The course is required for all educators, boarding home parents and youth workers serving with Wycliffe, but is open to anyone who is considering service in the future in those areas. Click below to learn more!
GECO
A Look Forward This is Barb’s busiest time of the year as many interns and volunteers are heading overseas. It remains to be seen how COVID-19 affects these people, but we do ask you to pray that these interns and volunteers will not be delayed in leaving. Among the people Barb is working with, seven of them are educators going out this fall as Volunteers. In addition, Chuck has two educators going out as career missionaries and another three educators in application as career missionaries. However, that is only meeting just a small fraction of the more than 380 teachers needed in over 40 Missionary Kid (MK) schools. Pray for wisdom as we work to meet this tremendous need. To see the needs, check out: https://tinyurl.com/educator-needs-2020-2021
Ministry Update We wish to thank all of you who partnered with us. Due to faithful ministry partners who continue to give every month and a number of one-time gifts at the end of the year, we ended the year at 100.1% support! That is the first time in three years we have been at 100% support. Praise the Lord! However, for the first two months of this year, our support level has decreased to 93% support. Please pray for our continued 100% support!!! FOR PRAYER SUPPORT / OUR HOME ADDRESS Chuck & Barb Micheals 5167 Poinsetta Ave., Winter Park, Florida 32792 Cell: (321) 278-2225 Email: Chuck_Micheals@wycliffe.org FOR SUPPORTING US FINANCIALLY Wycliffe Bible Translators P. O. Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862-8200 Mark on separate sheet: “Preference For Chuck & Barb Micheals”
Check out GECO: www.wycliffe.org/geco
Give Online at: www.wycliffe.org/partner/cbmicheals
Recruitment Staff Meetings March 2020, Lake Yale, FL
Barb’s (second to the left) Volunteer and Internship Placement team.
Chuck’s (second to the left) education recruitment team
Chuck with the IT support staff that keep us working!
Barb waiting for dinner!
Enjoying some downtime at the recruitment meetings.
The entire team that does recruitment, applications and orientations.